Chapter 10 Conquest of Italy

The rain all night has made the canals muddy, and the dead stems and leaves are full of beetles. The ponds are squirming and long buckets are crawling, and the belly of the urn is filled with fermented chickens. Different kinds of maggots and leeches are growing in the wet, and they are tossed upside down, jumping and floating, but they fall. Once the wind is clear, Blow, and you will soar and gain wings. At the beginning of the day, the sun slowly swims, and the drum team gathers around the corner of the house.

The most unlucky emperor in the Middle Ages was basically Justin of the Byzantine Empire. Just after he celebrated Simi, Sister Weng discovered that the target of the Avars was actually Italy. The Avars Khan Boyan now also learned to make full use of his The Lombards, a vassal state, easily captured Rome.

Time soon entered the year 568, and the climate was still very cold this year. King Alberin of Lombardy had just won the battle, but still had to face an embarrassing reality. Although they won and grabbed a lot of treasures, these Most of the treasure had to be handed over to the Avars, and he still had to watch his men starve to death. At this moment, a travel-worn guest suddenly appeared in front of him. This man took out some fragrant and tempting food. fruit. This man came from Italy, where crops can still thrive in winter. For Albern, who was facing difficulties at the time, he was very moved when he heard the news. He talked with this guest for a long time time, he finally announced to his subordinates that he would immediately make a strategic shift, abandon his home in the middle reaches of the Danube River, and march towards Italy. In fact, the matter was by no means that simple. For the plains in the middle reaches of the Danube River, it would be very convenient for Avar to start a war. The cavalry galloping across the country was difficult for the Lombard infantry to hold on to. So in the long run, it was only a matter of time before the Avars drove out the Lombards. Of course, the Lombards decided to move south to Italy, and eventually The direct reason is still because of this envoy from Italy.

Who is the ruler of Italy now? Since the fall of the Ostrogothic Kingdom, Justinian’s Armenian eunuch Narcissus has been ruling Italy as a governor. This man is a weirdo in all aspects. , he is less than 1.2 meters tall and weighs less than 30 kilograms. Although he has been a eunuch since he was a child, it is still incredible to grow into such a figure. It is obvious that he has dwarfism because he has such a petite figure. , causing him to face those tough men in the military camp, and he could only feel fear. Ancient Armenia was rich in eunuchs and soldiers. Although Narcissus was powerless, he must not be underestimated. This man has Super strong military talent, it can be said that he can use soldiers like a god, and can even be compared with the most famous European general Belisarius. A weird wizard like Narcissus can only be under a master like Emperor Justinian. It can be used properly. After Justinian's son Justin came to power, he always disliked the Italian governor. Because Narcissus was greedy by nature, especially as he got older, he accumulated a lot of money. She made money, but never participated in charity activities. This matter was very taboo for ancient Europeans. She also protected the Romans who had not converted to Christianity, and her queen Sophia was a person who judged people based on their appearance and treated her husband , the 89-year-old eunuch was very contemptuous. So Narcissus issued an order that military training should be left to real men. If there are more suitable eunuch positions among the women in the palace, the town will take them. The reel was handed into his hand.

Once a famous general suffered such humiliation, his inner feelings were indescribable. It is said that after Narses accepted the order, he told his generals that the queen would definitely pay the price. The elderly Italian governor told the new Italian governor Longchino

Sri Lanka peacefully handed over the power, and then retired to the beach villa. With the sudden invasion of the Lombards, there was a rumor in the society that Narses wanted to use the invasion of the Lombards to retaliate against the Justins, so he used

The fruit gift box invited Erboin to Italy. However, this popular statement in Europe may not be credible. Narses' retirement undoubtedly enhanced Alboin's confidence in entering Italy, and there is a powerful Alboin behind him.

At the end of 567, Boyan Khan led the newly victorious army southward, approaching Simion City again, and surrounded General Bonus there. Simion City was a very difficult city to attack because he had

Two natural barriers. The Avars had no ships, so they had no way to attack you, so they came up with the idea of ​​forcing the defenders to escape. Boyan Khan asked his men to beat gongs and drums to make an earth-shattering sound, and the waves

Nus also asked his army to follow the same pattern, hoping that his side's drums would outweigh the other's. There was no winner or lose between the two sides in this smoke-free church, but the people in Simion suffered.

The intrusion of noise made me unable to sleep for several days.

Both armies were exhausted after a winter of hard work, and Boyan was the first to speak.

Your Excellency, General, you Romans were the first to betray the covenant between us, for the following reason: As we all know, we Avars are the conquerors and owners of the Kingdom of Gepid, and the city of Simion is the capital of the Kingdom of Gepid.

, therefore we have indisputable and complete sovereignty over the city of Simion. The Gepids in Simion are all my subjects, but they refuse to be loyal to me, which means that they have become traitors and should be

Wanted for arrest. Your government sent troops led by you, the general, to garrison the city of Simion, thereby destroying the territorial integrity of our country. You protected the Gepid fugitives in the city and refused to extradite them to us, further infringing.

The sovereignty of our country has been violated. These unfriendly actions of yours have constituted an act of war and have had extremely bad effects. They have made the sacred covenant of friendship between us exist in name only. Therefore, the troops must be dispersed from the city of Simion immediately.

Extradite all Gepid fugitives to us and make corresponding financial compensation to our country. In addition, your government has long been in arrears with the annual gifts stipulated in our covenant. It is best to pay the principal with interest. Thank you.

Bonus retorted in a tough manner.

Your Majesty the Khan, I must remind you that although the city of Simion was once controlled by the Gepids, it has been the territory of our Romans since ancient times. What? We have not exercised sovereignty over the city of Simion for 125 consecutive years.

That's better than you Avars who have never exercised sovereignty over it for even a day! In short, the nature of our occupation of Simion City is liberation, and the nature of your occupation of Simion City is invasion. There are indeed a large number of soldiers in the city.

Pied refugees, our kind emperor, in order to protect their lives and property from infringement, allows them to live here temporarily, just as the late emperor allowed you, who were exiled from the Turks, to settle on the north bank of the Danube.

It can be seen from these two incidents that the imperial court's policy of protecting surrounding ethnic groups has always been fair, just, consistent, and irreproachable. As for the annual gifts, the previous year's annual gifts have been settled, and the annual gifts last year and this year have been settled.

It cannot be paid because you have taken hostile actions against our territory, causing all the obligations stipulated in the covenant to no longer hold. If your highness is really sincere about ending the current state of war and restoring the peace treaty between us, the siege must be lifted immediately so that I can send

The envoy went to Constantinople to report to the emperor, asking him to send civil servants to negotiate with you, because I am a military attache who only cares about fighting, and I only have the right to reject your suggestions, but not to accept them.

Boyan Khan believed that the siege could be relieved, but the Byzantines had to use a humble gesture and first pay themselves a deposit. Bonus believed that this was a sign of insincerity on the part of the Abar people and could not accept it. Now Boyan Khan

In a hurry, his tone changed to a sincere tone that was almost pleading.

You see, the tokens I want are not many. A silver plate, a piece of gold jewelry, a wool tapestry, and a fashionable dress, as long as they are good-looking, are enough. In this way, I can go back and pay tribute to the soldiers.

They said: "Hey, brothers, the Romans are sincere about the peace talks! This is the token they gave me, asking us to lift the siege so that the negotiations can proceed further! Everyone, go home and rest first, I will definitely bring you some

Come with good news!" After all, I rule many nations, and tens of thousands of people entrust their lives and honor to me. How can I betray their trust? Did we come here aimlessly? Want to

You know, how many people expect to become famous and rich during this trip! So, don’t expect me to go back empty-handed and order the troops to retreat. That would be a huge shame for me and my subordinates!

But Bonus refused to take any advice. He still emphasized that he was just a military commander who only wanted to fight. I have the right to refuse you, but I have no right to agree to your suggestion privately. No matter what suggestion you make, I must consult the court in advance.

If you want our court to agree, you must first relieve the siege.

Such a tough reply made Avar Khan angry. He knew that the other party wanted to use the opportunity of peace talks to relieve his urgent needs and buy time for himself. Boyan Khan would not give the other party this chance, so he first sent 10,000 cavalry

He went to nearby Dalmatia and carried out robbery in the countryside. Since the history books at that time were destroyed, the classic dialogue between the two men was recorded here. In short, the result of this negotiation was that it broke down, and Boyan could

Khan also failed to capture the city of Simion. The news reached Constantinople, and Justin was very happy, as if he had defeated the Avars himself. After controlling Simion for a generation, the Byzantine Empire

Possessing the largest territory since the division of the Roman Empire. It is a pity that this grand occasion only lasted a few months, because the Lombards were crossing the Alps where the spring snow had melted, and came to the land of Byzantium. Although Boyan failed to obtain Sago

But he successfully contained part of the Byzantine Empire's army, which relieved a lot of pressure on Alberin's invasion of Italy. Boyan Khan also reached an agreement with Alberin, and the two sides stipulated that the Lombards and Alberin who were unwilling to leave their hometown

The Gepids can stay, but they must accept the rule of the Avars. If the Lombards who go to conquer Italy fail, they can return to their hometown at any time and still have autonomous status. These commitments in the Avars

With the support of and support, many Central European ethnic groups joined the Lombard army in the conquest of Italy. On April 2, 568 AD, the King of Lombardy led an army of 150,000 to Italy. This army had rich combat experience, and this war seemed to have already ended.

Destined to succeed.

The new Italian Governor Longinus is tall and handsome, so he is admired by Queen Sofia, but he is a complete vase. In terms of military talent, it can be said that he is inferior to the previous Italian Governor Narcissus.

The new Italian governor rarely spent time to mingle with the soldiers in the military camps below. Moreover, under his leadership, the generals below were at odds with each other and had long been in arrears with the soldiers' pay. This led to the garrison

The combat effectiveness of the Byzantine Empire army in Italy was low. When the Lombard army came to this land, it did not encounter any decent resistance for a long time. Even most cities opened their doors directly to welcome the conquerors who came here, and there were also a small number of them.

Some upright people refused to obey the conquest and fled to the coastal areas, which eventually created Venice and Genoa, the two commercial centers of Europe in the Middle Ages. Venice was originally a few uninhabited islands. When Attila invaded Italy, Europe

Some Jewish business groups on the mainland fled here to take refuge, forming primitive settlements. Now there are a large number of Italians out of fear of the Lombard invaders, and they have to come to the island of Venice, where they have always hated.

Jews lived together, and it was precisely because Italians fled here that the size of the early city of Venice was formed.

The Lombard army swept through the entire Po River Basin within half a year, and then advanced into the hinterland of the Apennine Peninsula. Seeing that the city of Rome was also in danger, the Roman Church had no choice but to kindly invite the elderly Narcissus to Rome. Although this man

The elderly patient with dwarfism, Narses, could no longer fight on the battlefield, but his reputation was enough to prevent the Lombard army from approaching the city of Rome. When the veteran general Narses died, the residents of Rome

They all thought that it would soon be reduced to the efforts of others, and they were saddened by the death of this 95-year-old man. The Roman Church had no choice but to personally organize militia and mercenaries to defend the city, which was when the Roman Church formed

The predecessor of the Vatican State, there was also a small city that rose up to resist foreign enemies. This city was called Pavia. The soldiers and civilians in the city held on for three years. It was precisely because of the tenacious resistance of this small city that the King of Lombardy was completely disrupted.

The whole plan. He even became so angry that he swore that after the city was broken, he would kill every person in the city.

In 570, the people in this small city were finally forced to surrender because they had no food and no reinforcements. Perhaps this was fate. As soon as Alberin entered the city, his horse suddenly went berserk and hit him hard.

Throwing it to the ground. Some people around attributed this phenomenon to angering God. Alber was panicked and frightened, so he quickly withdrew his order to massacre the residents of the city, and finally announced that his capital would be established here.

For the Avars, although their client country Lombardy won successive victories in Italy this year, their old enemies the Turks were also pressing forward step by step. Since the Turks pacified the Qida country, their relationship with Persia

Because of this, the Turks were eager to deepen their friendship with Byzantium. At the end of 568, the Western Turk Khan secretly sent a group of Manichaeans to visit the Byzantine Empire. For the Byzantines, the visit of such a foreign envoy

Constantinople has long been a habit, because this city can receive more than 100 Turkic missions a year, but this mission of mock teachers is undoubtedly the highest among them. The chief diplomat of this mission

The official was Manichez, king of Sogdiana. This person may have more or less Huns ancestry. Compared with the previous Avar envoys, they were more gorgeously dressed and behaved more elegantly. Due to his rich diplomatic experience, he was very

Know how to deal with the Byzantine rulers. Manichez showed the Byzantine rulers the autograph letter of the Turkic Khan. This letter was written in the newly invented Turkic script, so Westerners have never seen it. This kind of writing needs to go through five

It took only one translation for Justin to understand, and Justin was not far behind. He showed Manichez the silk made by the Byzantine Empire.

For thousands of years, Europeans have been very fond of Chinese silk, and they have paid a lot of money to buy Chinese silk. However, they have never acquired the production skills to make silk. It was not until the end of Justinian's reign that Indian merchants

The silkworm eggs were sold to the Byzantines, and the price of silk plummeted after the company. We know that silk is mainly transported through the Silk Road, so every natural and man-made disaster that occurs on the Silk Road will always affect the price of silk. We have mentioned before

I have been there, and Sogdia was also a middleman on the Silk Road. Now Manichez sees that the Byzantines have mastered the technology of producing silk. If they no longer need to import silk from the East, then Sogdia, as a silk trade middleman,

People will not be able to obtain huge benefits. From then on, Europeans will definitely reduce their silk imports from the East year by year. Then the Silk Road that the Sogdians rely on for survival will lose value, and this nation is likely to be on the verge of death.

Even though his mood had reached rock bottom at this moment, as an excellent diplomat, he still had to show the grace he should have when talking to high-level rulers. He answered the questions raised by Justin one by one, among which:

When the Byzantine emperor asked about the Avars, he replied that some Avars surrendered to the Turks, and some took the opportunity to flee to the west. This visit has been conducted in a relatively friendly atmosphere, and Justin also

Hui sent envoys to the Turks. Later, Shi Dianmi, together with the envoys sent by Byzantium, led the army westward to conquer Persia, but he retreated due to illness in the middle. Shi Dianmi died not long after, and his son Tijue

He succeeded to the throne in about 572 AD. Almost at the same time, the Eastern Turkic Khan also died, and the huge Turkic country began an endless civil war. Shi Dianmi and Mugan Khan died at the same time, and the Turkic

The split was a great opportunity for Boyan, because his most feared enemy suddenly disappeared from the world. Before this, Boyan Khan was very worried about the frequent visits of Turks to Constantinople.

The two sides would reach some kind of secret agreement, so during that period for several years, Boyan Khan continued to send envoys to Byzantium for negotiations. Relying on his relatively good relationship with the Turks, Justin firmly rejected the proposal put forward by the Abars.

Various opinions. However, after being rejected by Justin, Boyan Khan increased the amount of annual gifts paid by the Byzantine Empire to the Avars, and continued to demand the sovereignty of Simion City and all the exiled Gepids.

People. If these demands cannot be met, Boyan Khan will put the Byzantine envoy under house arrest. The envoy was forced to visit his house in Constantinople and barely managed to collect 800 solid gold coins to ransom himself.

The emperors of the steppe nomads often had some shocking ideas. Boyan Khan heard that Justin had been ill for a long time and his life was in danger, but did Justin have a favorite Houyi or relative as his successor? Boyan Khan actually sent another envoy

When he visited Constantinople, he also asked the envoy to solemnly propose to Justin, asking her to accept Boyan Khan as his adopted son. As the legal heir of the Byzantine Empire, Avark Khan's idea was beautiful, but

She didn't even think about whether this was possible. Justin was surprised after hearing these words. He had never thought that the Avars would make such an unreasonable request, which caught him off guard for a while. Later, the Queen

At Sofia's suggestion, Justin excused his poor health and completely handed over the task of negotiating with the Avars to Tiberius, the then marching general. Tiberius was tall, imposing, and a handsome man.

If he is not a handsome man, it is impossible to win the favor of the queen. After hearing about it, Boyan Khan quickly requested a replacement, and he sent a young Bulgarian nobleman Abshu to replace the old chief diplomat to avoid being criticized.

The other person’s contempt.

With the development of the times, these younger generation of diplomats became more straightforward than the older generation of diplomats. Abshu fulfilled his mission and still insisted on all the demands he had made before, and further proposed to obtain the entire Pannonia.

If you get this place, it will open the door to the Mediterranean. The Byzantine Empire's army will not be able to assist Italy, which is being attacked by the Lombards, from overland. Tiberius will definitely not agree to such a proposal that is humiliating and humiliating the country, but in order to facilitate this matter

He was also prepared to make concessions step by step. He proposed to use the New Year coins of Simion City in exchange for a group of Avars noble children. They went to the Byzantine Empire as hostages, thinking that with these people in their hands, they would no longer be afraid of Avars.

The Vars came to invade. Justin was even more straightforward. He directly asked Tiberius to ask Boyan Khan's son as a hostage. But Tiberius believed that Boyan did not play his cards according to the routine, and might even ignore it.

The life and death of his own son. But if the Avar Kingdom is allowed to hand over the noble children, even if Boyan Khan does not care about their life and death, those nobles will definitely try their best to prevent the Khan from taking military action against the Byzantine Empire. This negotiation has dragged on for a long time.

, Boyan gradually felt tired, so in early 570, he led his army to cross the Danube River again. He wanted to use military threats to force the Byzantine Empire to agree to the humiliation of the country. Tiberius and Bonus tried their best to drive the enemy away.

He returned, but with the exception of a few seaside towns, the rest of Italy had fallen into Albern's hands.

But Alboin had just been stationed in Pavia for a few months, and because he often forced his Geppide queen to drink wine from his father's skull, his wife was extremely angry. In 572 AD, his queen Rosamund

After Pei Alboin entered the city of Pavia, he quickly found two lovers who were absolutely loyal to him. These two people were Hermitius, the captain of the palace, and Peredio, the king's personal bodyguard.

Originally, they had a very good relationship with the king, but the hero found it hard to be a beauty, and the queen's skills in bed were too strong. After spending the night together, the two swore allegiance to the queen. After a dinner, Albert was attracted by the Italian conqueror.

The bodyguard of Hermitus was assassinated in the bedroom. The next day, Hermites held a wedding with Queen Rosamund and proclaimed himself king, but he could not get the support of the Lombard nobles and common people. He saw that something bad was going on.

, decided to flee Pavia with Rosamund and Peredio, and went to the Italian Governor Longinus. Later, Peredio was killed by Hermitius and Rosamund, and Rosa

Mondyou liked the new and disliked the old, so he fell into the arms of Longinus, and the two of them plotted to get rid of Hermitis.

Rosamond secretly mixed the aphrodisiac that Hermitis often took with poison into the wine, but he did not expect that the two drugs had a neutralizing effect. After Hermice discovered that he was poisoned, he still had enough

Time and energy forced Rosamund to drink the remaining medicinal wine, and eventually the two men died together. Fortunately, although Alboin died, the Lombards at this time had become stronger and gradually consolidated their power in the interior of Italy.

The rule of Italy began to compete with the Byzantines who controlled the coastal areas. Italy has since been divided, and it will take another 13 centuries for it to be reunified, but we know that there are still two independent small countries in Italy until now, that is the Vatican

and San Marino, so strictly speaking, Italy has not been able to truly complete its unification until now.

The Byzantine emperors were defeated steadily under the joint attacks of the Abbars, Slavs, Turks, Persians and Arabs, and gradually became a middle-class country. Almost at the same time, various Germanic peoples in Western and Central Europe and the Slavic peoples in Eastern Europe

After obtaining a relatively fixed territory, he also stopped migrating and began to build his own political power. It seems that the vigorous migration movement of European peoples has finally ended. This movement began with the Xiongnu and finally ended with Rouran. He not only
Chapter completed!